EUROPE >New Greek PM in ally Greek Cyprus on first foreign visit

A handout picture released by the Cypriot government's Press and Information Office (PIO) shows Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Kasoulides (L) sitting with Greece's new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras upon the latter's arrival at Larnaca airport in the Cypriot southern port city on February 2, 2015 for his first visit abroad since his election victory. AFP Photo

Greece's radical new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrived in Greek Cyprus Feb. 2, making his first foreign visit to a close ally that has also been ravaged by the eurozone debt crisis.

Tsipras was met at the airport by Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides before heading to the capital Nicosia for talks with President Nicos Anastasiades.

They were to hold a joint news conference at 0945 GMT.

The hard-left Greek prime minister will find no ideological common ground with the Greek Cyprus president.

Anastasiades is a conservative who struck a painful bailout deal with international creditors after defeating Communist predecessor Demetris Christofias in a February 2013 presidential election.

He has since fought doggedly to meet the terms set by creditors, despite losing his parliamentary majority amid a prolonged recession.

Tsipras's left-wing Syriza party swept to power last week pledging to end painful austerity measures after six years of recession demanded by the EU and the International Monetary Fund in return for a 240 billion euro ($270 billion) bailout.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was in London on Monday for talks with his British counterpart George Osborne as he seeks to build support for a renegotiation of the bailout in the face of German opposition.

But Greece and Greek Cyprus have a special relationship built on a shared language and culture and it is a longstanding convention that they be the first port of call for new leaders of either country.

Anastasiades visited Athens in March 2013 on his first foreign visit as president.

The two governments have long sought to coordinate their policies within the European Union and share strong misgivings about EU sanctions imposed on Russia, which is an important economic partner for both countries.

Greece has also been a key military backer of the Greek Cyprus government in its decades-old standoff with Turkey.

The Mediterranean island has been divided since Turkish troops intervened in 1974 in response to a Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.

Athens has some 10,000 troops stationed in the south of the island and provides senior officers and training for the Greek Cypriot National Guard.

It has also been a strong diplomatic backer of the Cyprus government's policy towards UN-backed reunification talks with Turkish Cypriot leaders, who proclaimed a breakaway state in 1983.

Greek Cyprus suspended its participation in the U.N.-led negotiations in October 2014, after Turkey dispatched a survey boat to an area where the Greek Cypriot government had licensed exploratory drilling for oil and gas.

Tsipras has expressed support for that position calling on Ankara to withdraw its seismic vessel from the island's waters to create an appropriate climate for a resumption of talks.

Turkey does not recognize the island's exclusive economic zone and has called for joint exploitation of the energy deposits that will also benefit Turkish Cypriots.